The company behind 3D printing for fun parts has made an announcement of their plans to launch a new firm, the new firm is dedicated to provide copyright-free blueprints for many types of 3D objects.

The blueprints that they intend to be make are not just “trinkets” or “garden gnomes”. Cody Wilson, a law student who has setup Defense Distributed, a project that’s aimed to print gun parts said the following:

“Help us turn Defcad into the world’s first unblockable, open-source search engine for 3D printable parts. Not trinkets, not garden gnomes but the things institutions and industries have an interest in keeping from us; access, medical devices, drugs, goods, guns.”

Many would appreciate 3D printings ability for many beneficial items, but many would be skeptical, even scared, if blueprints for 3D gun printing was made available so easily. Defcad is already being called as “The Pirate Bay for 3D Printing” as the founders intend to make the site as a search engine for 3D printing.

However Defcad will most likely face legal challenges. Chances are that the site may also face a situation that will eventually shut down. Yet, Cody Wilson said that Defcad.org is a non-profit project and that they’ve seen upto 400,000 downloads since the website’s launch.

When Cody Wilson launched the project, it started a controversy when 3D printing company MakerBot pulled down the gun part blueprints from their website after the Sandy Hook shootings. 3D printer manufacturer Startasys even refused permission to allow their machines to be used by the company.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/tAW72Y_XPF4[/youtube]

Earlier on, they did put up a video that demonstrated an AR-15 with 3D printed parts where it was able to successfully fire 600 rounds.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/rO54gzfite4[/youtube]

Currently Mr. Wilson is planning that their next step would be a wiki weapon project and therefore is looking forward to funding as mentioned in the website. At the time of writing, they’ve raised $12,925 of $100,000 that they need to raise within 27 days.

Lorna Caddy of a law firm called Taylor Wessing said,” Supplying consumers with blueprints to print products designed by third parties is a business model fraught with risk. Many of those products will be protected by intellectual property rights, such as design law. Owners of those rights could assert them in the courts to prevent their designs being further distributed and to seek financial compensation.”